Brunei Darussalam saw a decrease of 4.8 per cent in exports unit value. This contributed to the fall in total exports value by 12.0 per cent from BND4,420.0 million, to BND3,890.0 million, attributed by the decrease in index of chemicals (9.9 per cent), mineral fuels (4.7 per cent) and miscellaneous manufactured articles (4.4 per cent).
The decrease in the price of these products at the world market was the primary reason of the decline in exports unit value index.
In terms of export volume index, a decrease of 3.3 per cent was recorded in 2023, contributed by the decline in index of manufactured goods (28.8 per cent), miscellaneous manufactured articles (19.9 per cent) and mineral fuels (3.0 per cent).
The imports volume index also fell by 2.8 per cent was recorded in Q1 2023, resulting to the decrease in total imports value by 12.4 per cent from BND2,569.7 million to BND2,252.0 million.
The decrease in the imports volume index was mainly contributed by the decrease in index of manufactured goods (16.8 per cent), mineral fuels (16.7 per cent) and crude materials inedible (6.9 per cent).
However, the import unit value index saw an increase of 0.8 per cent contributed mainly by the increase in the index of machinery and transport equipment (11.6 per cent).
The terms of trade, registered a decrease of 5.5 per cent in Q1 2023.
This was mainly contributed by the decline in the index for machinery and transport equipment at 14.4 per cent, Chemicals (8.1 per cent) and Food (1.7 per cent).
